A special case

When I get my iPad 3 out with its high definition Retina out to show people my work I always get compliments.

But not about the work, nor for that matter the beautiful screen.

It's the case they like.

'What make is it...where did you get it?

Oh to be upstaged by an iPad case.

With good reason though.

I have a Portenzo 'book case' which as the name suggests gives your iPad the appearance of a well loved journal, where you can specify the exterior and interior colour, protecting your investment in a stylish lightweight wooden chassis, which further adds to the appearance of a journal and is strong, very strong.

I rely more and more on my iPad all the time, being impressed by how much I can get away with on it.

As a result my iPad's leads a pretty tough life.

Like the time when my first iPad had a little adventure on the roof of my car for two junctions of the M1.


As you can tell I'm a big fan.

And when the case does start to wear as mine has done, it just has the appearance of a well loved journal.

Also it does not quite look like an iPad, perhaps making it less of a target for the opportunist thief.

Downsides?

Not many.

Well, it is not the cheapest. If you spec it up adding all the bits and pieces the price can drift northwards of $100, and if you go for a leather version much higher but you are getting a very special case.

The way I have justified it to myself is as a really good value portfolio case and not as an iPad case per se.

You can customise the cover with your name and logo by special order but I would like the option of deleting the 'Portenzo' name which features on the back cover.

I wish the guys at Portenzo success, but not too much success.

I would hate to see this case EVERYWHERE and for it to lose its unique, special appeal.

I have re contacted a busy ad agency who could not quite remember me until I jogged their memory by saying I was the guy with the wooden iPad case.

Oh to be upstaged by a bloody iPad case, but at least they remembered me.

That is the most important thing surely?


Note: I do not have an affiliate link with Portenzo they are just cool cases......

The Seal Hunters

When I worked for the Sunday Telegraph I was lucky enough to be set to some far flung and interesting locations.

At that time it was far more common place for photographers to be sent by newspapers to far flung corners of the world to record the stories of the day.

With circulation of newspapers in free-fall it does not happen on anything like the scale it did.

It gave me some of the most unique and special moments of my life.

Being a photojournalist is having a 'passport' into other peoples lives, in sometimes challenging situations, giving you an insight which can be challenging to put into photographs.

Often what made the journey special was the people I would meet.

In the late 1990's I was sent with reporter Adam Nicolson (a great writer and good company, a rare combination in journalists) to Newfoundland to report on the highly emotive seal cull/hunt.

We were guests of the Fisheries department of the Canadian government, who rather predictably played everything 'by the book' and would not let us anywhere near the seal cull, too difficult to get to and dangerous.....feelings running high....so the line went.

Indeed we needed a permit from the Canadian government -which we did not have, for good reason.

Some years earlier an image by Kent Gavin of the Daily Mirror of a young seal pup being clubbed to death on the ice caused widespread international outrage and a major headache for the Canadian government.

Our government minder did not want a repeat of this episode.

We could however meet some 'sealers' at a diner and get their perspective.

There is little more frustrating for any news photographer than having to sit through an interview having travelled half way around the world knowing that your photos are never going to match all the interesting stuff being said.

We met the two sealing representatives who were telling us how they were being unfairly portrayed and how the media had it wrong and how the seal hunt was just part of their seasonal rotational harvesting of the sea, depending on what there was to catch at that time of the year.

Snow crabs, Cod (before they were fished to extinction on the Grand Banks) and the Harp seals.

I went to get a coffee from the counter, leaving the journalist and the government minder talking to the other sealer and was joined by the most vocal and eloquent of the sealers a guy called Gary Troake.

The conversation went something like this 'it's a shame you can't see how we hunt seals'

I said I would like to but we needed a permit, we had no clue where the seal hunt was and we did not have an idea how to go out onto the ice.

'I will take you if you like' said Gary

'What about the government minder?' I said

'Just lose him' he said

I passed the journalist a note telling him of my plan.

There was after all one minder and two journalists so there was little he could do when I headed out into the parking lot and into Gary's car.

As we drove away from the diner I knew I was going to have and adventure but I was not ready for the kindness and generosity showed to me by Gary his wife Suzanne and his young family.

We had to wait for the weather to come right before we could go out on the ice.

They put me up in their spare room in their small house for several days. Giving me a valuable opportunity to document life in the community.

It gave an amazing insight into sealing but more importantly Gary's conservation views (well worth a read) which were pretty illuminating and learned.

One of the thing I did learn a lot about as a photojournalist was grey areas.

The world is full of them.

Just because Gary hunted seals it did not mean that he did not have a lot of sound knowledge and big ideas for conservation, some which were not always universally welcomed in the sealing community.

I think I was there 3 days until the weather was right.

Crystal clear blue skies with no wind.

Cold is a word which took on new meaning.

The sea was frozen.

They asked if I had good cold weather clothing and I confidently replied that I had, fleece and gortex layers galore.

In moments of being in the harbour I realised the clothes I was wearing was next to useless, the cold cut right through me.

They gave me a thick insulated survival suit, think of a babies romper suit made from hot water tank lagging and you will not be far off.

As we made our way out of the harbour the glass fibre hull of the boat cut though the ice making the most horrible juddering sound.

I was told this is why they favour glass fibre over wood, as it cuts through the ice and holds up better against damage.

Very little could prepare you for the sight once we were out of the harbour and into open waters.

Just clear blue skies, oily deep blue water which went on forever punctuated by the occasional piece of ice which had broken off from the ice flow.

Apart from the sound of the engine there was nothing, not a sound at all.

A few hours in one of the men saw a seal and fired a single shot.

He had killed the first of three seals that would be shot by the sealers that day.

I was not ready for it.

Camera's packed away because I really was not sure how they, or the batteries would stand up to sustained exposure to cold.

I was shooting with Canon EOS-1's and they did just fine but I had to manage my batteries.

I have to admit I did not shoot roll after roll of images as changing film was a mission and so damn cold to boot.

Just a matter of making every frame count.

From the day there was one frame which worked really well.

I was with one of the seal hunters on the ice who had just dragged the seal out of the water.

The others thought that they had seen another seal so left us, giving me a this shot which gave a real sense of the vastness.

The challenge was to tell a story often in one frame as this was frequently all a paper used to illustrate a story.

Then to hope that they use it.

How did I feel about going out with sealers who killed three of the most appealing mammals in my presence?

One has to leave one's emotions and prejudice's at the door when covering news.

But it was difficult to have any bad feelings for these guys and the community when they are just trying to hang onto life in one of the most challenging of places in the world.

One thing that struck me was just how dangerous their relationship with the sea was in small open boats, wether sealing or fishing.

A way of life that has claimed many lives in the small community of Twillingate.

When researching this blog I read with great sadness that Gary Troake and Roger Blake's small boat capsized in the icy seas while retrieving their nets.

Both men lost their lives.

Shameful goings on with the iPad mini.

Lead me not into temptation......

Some friends of mine were traveling into the UK recently who managed to get hold of a couple of the highly sought after iPad mini's.

They bought them for friends.

Lan Bui with and iPad mini he bought for someone else and ended up keeping for himself

The friends they bought them for did not get them, as they liked them so much that they kept them for themselves.

Another good friend of mine also managed to get hold of an iPad mini as a present for his girlfriend.

She has not received it, he opened the box to preload apps for her and kept it for himself.

More shameful and selfish acts tell you all you need know about the iPad mini.

Hold it in your hand and you are hooked by its size, feather weight and sheer quality.

Apple was late to the party with the iPad mini but in my view they really have hit the spot.

It did not have a retina screen but I did not miss it.

I use the brilliant and reliable Capture Pilot function in Capture One 7 Pro which enables you to share the shoot live with creatives on their iPad's, so they can choose the files as you shoot.

Tempting to get a couple just for this.

It is remarkable and baffling that I still encounter creatives who have never had this 'service' offered to them by photographers even on big high end shoots. It is a great way to win friends and influence the people who will give you your next big job. It is a mystery to me as to why more photographers don't use it.

I will let the parting shot go to theloopinsight.com


'If you want to save $50 and buy a cheap-ass tablet, go ahead. If you want quality the iPad mini will be waiting for you when you come to your senses'


I have a brand new iPad mini tucked away in the furthest recess's of my wardrobe for someone very special in my life.

When I open it up, just to set the email up and load it with apps you understand, lets hope that common sense prevails and not temptation.....

THE crucial first accessory for shooting DSLR video

 Readers of this blog will know that I have a keen interest in video as well as stills.

One of the most frequent questions on asked is what rig do I use, three people asked me last week alone.

The truth is I do not yet have a rig, but I am in the process of choosing one right now.

I will share that process with you but it was heavily influenced by Rodney Charters DP of '24' and many other productions too.

So how have I managed to not buy rig for my DSLR for so long? After all it is a less than ideal form factor when it comes to handheld video shooting.

To see what is on the rear LCD you have to hold the camera at 'half' arms length, this in turn means you loose stability and you truly cannot see if the image is in focus and one does tend to shoot more wide open when shooting video on a camera like a Canon 5D MkII.

Not ideal at all.

When I started using the Zacuto Z finder, which clips onto the rear LCD, I could see what was sharp and what wasn't.

It was a giant leap forward in my video work.

But the really significant factor about using a Z finder is that the camera comes back to your eye and you gain what any video shooter craves.

Stability.

When I shoot with my Z finder it gives me back the magical three points of contact between then camera and my body.

So all of a sudden a rig was not quite such a priority.

There are similar products out there, but I am consistently impressed by the superb build quality of the Z finder and for that matter all other Zacuto products.

I have dropped mine more than once will no ill effects.

You really do get what you pay for.

If you are looking for the first 'building block' on your video journey which gives the biggest bang for you buck, look no further.

Possibly the best time lapse. Ever.

 Time lapse is ubiquitous.

And quite rightly so.

Along with it's cousin super slow motion, I cannot think of a better way of capturing the passing of time.

I like many others tend to use it as a quirky bit of fun instead of using it as a narrative.

In fact examples of time lapse that truly tell a story are relatively few and far between.

When the space shuttle flew into Los Angeles for the last time it made one of the great photo ops of the year.

The juxtaposition of something big and that is normally in space was a sight to behold.

Bryan Chan pho editor and photographer at the 'La Times' shot a multi view time lapse of the shuttles final journey.

It really is outstanding.

He tells the story here in the LA Times blog.

http://framework.latimes.com/2012/10/18/behind-the-lens-shooting-the-endeavo
ur-time-lapse-video/

As you will read planning is all.

Time lapse can be child's play, but when used to tell a story of an historic journey it is a very powerful tool.

Hands on and samples from the Phase One 28mm and 240mm LS lenses.

I was fortunate enough to get some hands on and real world experience with the 28mm and 240mm LS lenses, the two latest pieces in the jigsaw puzzle from Phase One.

One that I knew I wanted and had been hoping they would make, the other a lens which I did not know I wanted until I used it.

In my forest series I have often used the quite brilliant 28mm F4.5 lens which is very sharp and remarkably little distortion. Importantly it gives full coverage of Phase One's biggest sensors, which is not the case with Hasselblad's offering, and played a small but significant part in my switch to Phase One a few years back.

 28 mm LS f/4.5 Aspherical

I used it on the Zebra shoot.

I have been in many situations where my widest lens was not quite wide enough and I hankered for a 28mm.

It has very low distortion for a medium format lens of its focal length too.

For all its strengths it did have one glaring shortcoming, in my eyes at least.

It had no leaf shutter, meaning I was stuck at 125th sec with my Elinchrom Rangers and on occasion it could be very frustrating.

A few years back when I suggested they make a version with leaf shutter I have to admit they did look at me somewhat sideways in a sort of 'why on earth would you want one of those? kind of way.

Well now they have done it and it is wonderful.

What photo opportunity did Phase One come up with to demonstrate the benefits of the 28mm with a leaf shutter?

Simple.

Phase One CEO Henrik Hankonsson would put some sort of nasty flammable liquid in his mouth and breath fire, hopefully without setting himself or me on fire.

It might look like quite simple but it was a bit scary.

Its difficult to imagine another CEO of any company at all doing this for a photo and it does give you some sort of idea of the man AND the company.

Here is a 100 percent screen grab.

It was a little bit windy and the consequences of the fire blowing back into HH's face did not bear thinking about, so the location chosen for the shoot was a sheltered area in a former Danish military installation dating back to the Cold War.

It was one of those shoots where we had to get it right, I did not want to hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons...

The area was a bit on the tight side as you can see so the 28mm was just the tool for the job, the leaf shutter meant I could shoot at 500th sec with big flash.

I lit the shot with two Profo 7B's.

Key light from the left with the back light on axis, the key light with a soft box, the back light bare bulb, using the built in kill spill.

I located them both very close to the walls of the bunker to give maximum stability and safety.

I will admit this shot took a couple of attempts.

When we all climbed back into the car unscathed I breathed a BIG sigh of relief.

Time then to get some hands on with the Phase One Schneider LS 240 mm f/4.5 the longest available telephoto lens for the Phase One 645DF camera. 

There has been a telephoto sized gap in the Phase lens line up and this lens was keenly awaited.

240 MM LS F/4.5 IF

Which at first glance, a slightly curious focal length lens, I can't think of another 240mm very easily.

The boffins at Phase were particularly interested to see what I made of it for a couple of reasons.

It was designed as a 240mm as this was found to be the optimum during the design process.

The resulting performance is remarkable.

When shooting on medium format I normally don't gravitate to the telephoto view, I tend to hover around the 120mm and wider, so while interested I did not think I would be THAT interested.

A brief walk around the streets of Copenhagen had me thinking a little differently though.

This is a really super sharp lovely lens with beautiful bokeh.

Here is 100 percent screen grab.

The internal focus mechanism works a treat and though it is not the lightest of lenses, weighing in at 1.6 kg/3.53lb's hand holds very well indeed, making a very stable package with the Phase One DF.

The AF seemed very snappy too, and on the new DF+, which I have not tried yet, one would imagine it would be even better.

One of the major failings of medium format lenses of this focal length is that they do not focus close enough.

This one does.

A close focusing distance of 170cm/5ft takes it well into the realms of a creative portrait lens.

My only slight reservation is the lack of a separate tripod mount for the lens.

I did not have chance to try the lens mounted on a tripod but the engineers at Phase One assured me this was not an issue due to the balance of the camera back /combo.

Lenses of this quality and calibre don't come cheap, and while I'm unsure of the final pricing of them, but I have never bought a Phase One LS lens and regretted it.

I have placed my order for the 28mm LS and look forward to shooting some more forest shots on it soon.

Purple fringing and the iPhone 5

Like many, I have been following the launch of the iPhone 5 with great interest.

I must stress I do not have one but it seems like a fine piece of kit, indeed everyone I know who has one is generally very happy.

There does not seem to be a day that goes by with out some new glitch being seized upon by commentators, some very valid-like the iOS6 maps which really do need quite a lot of work to bring them up to scratch( I looked for Whitstable on maps the other day three times and it just would not take me there)

But there are others which, I feel are a little unfair or unrealistic.

Which brings me on to Purple Fringing the latest 'Achilles heel' of the iPhone 5.

Since the dawn if digital photography I have owned many Camera's and lenses which have been susceptible to purple fringing.

In no particular order Canon DCS520, Canon G series (up to G5) and one of my favourite lenses the 'L' Series 85mm F1.2 has its moments when used wide open.

I'm not picking on Canon, it's just what I have owned and used.

Purple fringing or different chromatic aberrations did not make any of these Camera's or lenses 'bad' but merely a fact of life that with a little manipulation one could get over relatively easily

(Capture One has a great 'Remove purple fringing' option which often works very well indeed)

So why bother talking about it?

I find it amusing that as the Camera's in phones improve all the time, people have sky high expectations of them and really need to do a reality check.

It is a camera and is subject to the same photographic laws as any other camera.

There have been chromatic aberrations since the dawn of photography so we might as well all just get on with enjoying this amazing technology at out fingertips.











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